Home to the Prairie

Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder #4

by Thomas L. Tedrow

Home is where the heart is.

When Pa comes to visit the farm in Missouri, he and Laura have so much fun reminiscing about the good old days that they decide to set out in search of their old homestead. But when they return to the prairie they see that things have changed—really changed. Trees have grown where there once weren’t any, the old creek is no longer there, and almost nothing is left of their prairie home. How could things have changed so much? And are their memories strong enough to last a lifetime?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Historical, Christian

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Thomas Tedrow is a bestselling American author and screenwriter whose books for young readers and young adults have sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. With more than twenty published titles, he is known for creating emotionally engaging stories and memorable series that have appeared in major Scholastic and Guideposts campaigns. His historical fiction includes The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Younguns, both set around the turn of the twentieth century and reissued in ebook form for new generations of readers. Tedrow has also produced a range of youth-focused content and has promoted his work through radio, television, print, and online appearances throughout his career.

Reviews

[Sanya Weathers · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all, let me digress and tell you about the 20/80 rule, in case you've not heard it before. When you are twenty years old, with all of your life before you, you need to give a book eighty pages before you say screw it, my life is too finite to keep eating crap. Some books are just slow starters, you know, and when you're young, you've got the time to give each story a good shot.

When you're eighty, with much less sand in the top bulb of your hourglass, you only need to get through twenty pages.

Second of all, I present to my fellow Little House fans without comment the following quotes:

"Laurie smiled. Pa was a lovable rascal."
"[Pa] fought back tears...Life was simpler then, he thought. The best years of my life were those in that tiny prairie house."
"Just want to see my half-pint...and talk bout the old days when life wasnt so dang complicated."
"Sing, girl. Sing it for your pa."

Third, I take it back. I do have a comment. This coat-tailing melodramatic excrement made me so very glad that I'm not twenty years old.

[Lauri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can I give it less than 1 star? Every character is completely annoying. It's horrible that this author decided to use well respected historical figures to prop up his story about the most annoying unsympathetic children ever. And he couldn't even get the history correct.

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

More than any other installment in the series, this book reads like a mediocre TV script.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't even finish this book, it's so terribly written. The author uses the names of the Ingalls and Wilder families, but appears never to have read any of the writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, or Roger Lea McBride.

The story, according to the author, takes place in 1906, when Pa Ingalls rides the train from South Dakota to Missouri to visit Laura. In actuality, Charles Ingalls died in 1902. Laura took the train from Missouri to South Dakota to be with him in his final days. In the book, he also calls her "Laurie." In no writing of any of the authors associated with Laura in real life is she ever referred to by this name. Laurie, during Pa's lifetime, was a boy's name, derived from Laurence. Neither Pa nor Ma would have ever used a boy's name for Laura. And the story has Pa constantly fingering a "lucky" fifty-dollar gold piece. If Pa had a fifty-dollar gold piece, he would have had it in his pocketbook, not flashing it around, inviting robbery. And calling it "lucky" would have been seen as superstitious at best, idolatrous at worst, in the moral code of his time.

If an author is going to use real people, even in a novel, said author should keep it close enough to actual facts that disbelief can be suspended. Just getting the dates wrong turns the entire book into a pack of lies.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unauthorized LIW fanfiction where Pa comes to Missouri a decade or so after he died IRL and he and Laura (or, as he calls her for some reason, Laurie) drive to find the Little House on the Prairie. And also there's a Reverend with wild children who scream a lot. Apparently these were only available for a year or so before LIW's estate got them pulled, but I read them all as a kid and loved them because, well, LIW fanfiction. She and Manly even got spoony on the page. I can see why I enjoyed them, but also, these are so bad, ha. And they changed the most random of details--Rocky Ridge became Apple Hill, things like that.

[Kelly Wickham · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are cute and entertaining little vignettes of what the author imagined the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder to be like. They are not based on historical fact but are fun to read and good for younger audiences as they are simple and easy to read and the stories are simple and relate more to young people. I always like to read more about literary characters that I enjoy even if it isn't all true so in that sense, I enjoy these stories. Analiz and I have been reading them together.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the book would have focused on the Little House characters instead of dragging in the chapters of "The Younguns" I would have liked it more. Those chapters seemed totally out of place, felt like fluff, and seemed to be a way of filling enough pages to have a book. I liked the dynamic between Pa and Laura. I didn't like the way the author portrayed Almanzo at all.

[Leanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

A friend gave me the first four in these series, but in reading this book I was disappointed to find that they do not match the quality of the Little House on the Prarie books. I was further disappointed to discover that in the past there was some debate over the legality of publishing these books. Needless to say, I am very disappointed in this series.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the others in this series. I enjoyed somewhat reading about Pa’s visit and adventure with Laura, but I honestly get tired of the kids antics that sound more like kids in today’s world rather than in the early 1900’s. Also, this series doesn’t have the same purity as the good old Little House books written by Laura Wilder herself.

[KP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still not historically correct-book had Pa visiting Laura 4 years after he’d died. And I seriously doubt he ever called her “Laurie”. The Youngun kids are still horrible with their “jokes”. This particular book was sometimes hard to tell the reminiscing from the actual time frame of the story.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good story

[Agnes · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just terrible-he added a character with a lisp and a kid who constantly burps up sardines.

[Mary L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved going back home--and Home is where the heart is.

[Faith Younce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot because it had Pa in it.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biggest annoyance? He made PA keep calling Laura "Laurie" and changed his vernacular into something very countrified, which Pa never was. His nickname for her was "Half-Pint" and NEVER Laurie. This was so annoying. And the whole story about the gold piece was so absurd----Pa was not a superstitious man. In fact he cautioned Caroline against superstition in the real books, and he was incredibly practical. He would have used that gold piece to provide for his family in real life. Otherwise, enjoyable. The part about him just wanting to set out for old homestead, however reckless does track with real life Pa.

[Cws]

JAR5-Wil

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story; well written. I think Tedrow really captured the time well.

[Laurie D'ghent]

Gave up on page 106. Not a bad book, nothing offensive, I've just never liked Almanzo Wilder, and now I hate him.